MeatEater's American History: The Long Hunters (1761-1775)

Steven Rinella · Clay Newcomb

Jan 2024 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Steven Rinella and Clay Newcomb

About this audiobook

From the creators of the New York Times bestselling series Campfire Stories: Close Calls comes a new original audiobook that brings to life the bold, hair-raising, and often tragic adventures of a generation of eighteenth-century frontiersmen: the Long Hunters.

Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) and Clay Newcomb (MeatEater's Bear Grease podcast) gather listeners for a new round of stories, this time drawing from the lives of the rugged Long Hunters, who include such figures as Daniel Boone, Henry Skaggs, and Kasper Mansker. These were the commercial hunters and trappers who explored and exploited the First Far West, the land across the Appalachian Mountains, in the era between the Seven Years War and the American Revolution—one of the most fabled periods of American history.

The feats of these courageous, resilient backwoodsmen forever shaped a national identity centered around individualism, capitalism, freedom, and the need for wild places and wild animals.

Ratings and reviews

This is my 5th book from the Meateater crew. I started off cool to this one and ended well satisfied. As always, excellent research, great voices, and understandable language. Clay and Steve are great. I am grateful to have shared a few seasons trapping, selling, and tanning a few hides with my children. Thank you to the whole crew for the effort this took.

Excellent audiobook that went into the history without being a boring textbook. Would love it if you put out an appendix of your works cited so that listeners could dive in deeper.

I enjoyed the book. I was not interested in the subject at first but Clay and Steve drew me into it. As a History Buff I really enjoyed the book and I know they meticulously research their books.

About the author

Steven Rinella is an outdoorsman, writer, wild-foods enthusiast, and television and podcast personality who is a passionate advocate for conservation and the protection of public lands. Rinella is the host of the television show and podcast MeatEater; his last two books are the New York Times bestsellers Outdoor Kids in an Inside World and The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival. His writing has appeared in many publications, including Outside, Field & Stream, and The New Yorker. Rinella lives in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife and their three kids.

Clay Newcomb is the host of the top-ranked Bear Grease podcast, part of the MeatEater podcast network. A seventh-generation Arkansan, he is a hunter, naturalist, and chronicler of rural American culture. The former publisher of Bear Hunting magazine, he is currently at work on a book about the history and lore of black bears in North America.